NEC Solution Innovators, Ltd.

Development program participants were originally people such as engineers who drove projects as players, and among them there were people who stood out for their exceptional technical skills. Previously, they had been expected to develop and operate projects in line with specifications decided by higher ups. They thus typically thought about how to realize such specifications effectively and efficiently with the resources they had to hand.

Recently, however, section directors have been expected to lead businesses, and department directors to run broader and more challenging businesses, rather than individual projects. The patterns of thinking and behavior this requires are completely different from what has gone before.
In particular, this calls for thinking about “what solutions to offer to meet the challenges facing customers and society, and what positive changes to bring about” within the competitive environment, and how to realize those ideas.
Section and department directors are thus expected to sketch out “visions” for their businesses, secure the budgets and resources to fulfill them, then lead while sharing their strategy and vision with customers, internal leadership, department members and development partners, thus growing the business overall.

Both classes of directors are thus expected to transform themselves in a way that marks a break from the past. Switching from present-based thinking and behavior focused on technical ability, which is deeply ingrained over many long years, by driving forward the immediate work at hand, however, to thinking and behavior that develops a vision for the customer, then works backward from that to design and execute the work, is no mean feat.

In doing so, there is a strong risk that the company will fail to bring about sufficient change in the thinking and behaviors of its managers through internal direction and screening alone. NEC Solution Innovators thus accepted that its development program participants would themselves need to change, and turned once again to ABeam Consulting, having previously received support from us in drawing up guidelines for managers on developing subordinates, for support to enable program participants to effect suitable self-transformation.

Under the leadership of ABeam Consulting, NEC Solution Innovators went through the following process to figure out the details of what they should do and to execute on that.

Specifying What Skills and Mindset the Ideal Leader Should Have
NEC Solution Innovators specified their vision of an ideal leader for the section and department director classes respectively.
The department director class was defined as needing to have a suitable grasp of the external environment, in which markets and technology change and evolve day to day, to formulate aspirations for the business that should be realized, and to fulfill all ten criteria in the framework of (1) business strategy, (2) executive planning and (3) leadership.
For the section director class, the following three criteria were defined as key: “1. Uncovering the management/business challenges facing customers and identifying the challenges that should be addressed, as well as their root causes;” “2. Providing solutions that address the root causes of issues;” and “3. Becoming able to sketch out business strategies that see customers and the company grow together.”

Planning and Carrying Out Development Programs Focused on Output and Feedback
Simply specifying the criteria needed of leaders does not mean that they will necessarily master those capabilities, so ABeam planned and carried out development programs tailored to each class. As it is difficult to gain the skills and mindsets required of each role through classroom learning alone, the training was composed in a way where each participant would study and produce outputs themselves, before ABeam Consulting coaches would give feedback on that output, pointing out its strengths and problem areas. Going through an experiential learning cycle of immediately and frequently receiving objective reviews of your work effectively promotes mastery of skills and transformation in mindset. We further raised the standard of the program by incorporating opportunities for organized study, where candidates from both classes divided into groups of about five and compared each other’s output and feedback, thus gaining lessons from the process.

Repeated Individual Coaching
ABeam gave individual coaching to development program participants based on their strengths and weaknesses as leaders, bringing out improvements to the quality of each of their business strategies and further developing their skills and mindsets. Among the development candidates were some members who struggled to see their present situation or personal standing objectively. We needed to get them to buy into the program without feeling a sense of resistance, while choosing our words carefully, so that they could significantly change their perceptions and thus their attitudes.
ABeam held four rounds of one-on-one coaching with department head class candidates and two rounds with section director class candidates. These were divided up among ten ABeam management consultants. This let us limit the number of candidates per coach, so the same coach was able to provide attentive side-by-side support throughout the entire process to each candidate.

Supporting the Development of Leaders Premised on Coordination Between Business and HR Strategy
ABeam Consulting’s Human Capital Management Strategy Unit provides support focused on figuring out how to align and coordinate business and HR strategy, and how to effectively execute on such strategies, to further the goal of realizing sustainable corporate growth and transformation.
In this project, participants initially formulated business strategies to the extent that they were able to consider. Thus by encouraging them to also sufficiently take into account the personnel who would carry out these businesses, while providing pointers to raise the resolution and specificity of their business strategies, the Human Capital Management Strategy Unit contributed to improving the feasibility and usefulness of the candidates’ strategies.

Development That Inspires a Sense of Wanting to Act and Contribute as a Leader Among Development Program Participants, Rather Than Compelling Them
Just because a leader is able to formulate a business strategy that properly links up with HR strategy does not mean that they will have a genuine commitment to following through on it. Without genuine commitment, you cannot expect to produce results that match your plans. For this reason, just as with strategy formation, we encouraged leaders involved in execution to make strong commitments on their own initiative, and to drive projects forward while using that commitment to inspire stakeholders whose cooperation is necessary for executing on that strategy to get them involved.

In this project, even beyond the promotion screening process, development program participants each faced their own conflicts and anxieties with regard to being active as leaders following promotion. ABeam thus encouraged participants to make a strong commitment to acting and contributing as leaders while continuing to transform themselves, by drawing out such thoughts through a process of accepting them, questioning them and putting into words thoughts that had previously been kept inside.
As a result, when the project ended, our coaches received many messages from development program participants not only thanking them for their coaching, but also expressing an intention to continue working to transform themselves and act as section and department directors who stand out above the average.
Going forward, ABeam Consulting will continue to support the development of the section and department directors who will emerge from next financial year so that they can practice management with the same capabilities.